Stories of Self Defense

New Illinois Law Will END Chicago “Assault Weapons” Ban

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As I’m sure most of you know, yesterday Illinois state House passed a bill that, when/if signed into law, will give residents of the state a mechanism for concealed carry. Illinois was previously the only state in the US without some kind of concealed carry program.

The new bill has further reaching implications though. One of the aspects of the amended version of the bill is that the state will get preemption on gun laws. This would mean that cities, towns and counties would not be able to enact their own gun legislation. This means in cities like Chicago, the strict “assault weapons” ban in place there will be effectively repealed.

According to Time, the state preemoption measure is a major point of contention for many opposed to the bill.

…But the plan has drawn strong opposition, with Gov. Pat Quinn calling it a “massive overreach” because of the way it would curb local firearms regulations.

Chief among those regulations is Chicago’s ban on assault-style weapons, which would be stricken from the books. That’s a deal-breaker for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who backs tough restrictions to curb gun violence in the nation’s third largest city.

“This legislation is wrong for Illinois. It was wrong yesterday in committee, it’s wrong today, and it’s wrong for the future of public safety in our state,” Quinn said in a statement after the House vote.

Many states have preemption measures on gun laws. These measures prevent residents from having to learn numerous laws in order to be in compliance with the law as they travel through the state.

Illinois was ordered by an appeals court last year to have in place legislation which would allow for concealed carry by early June 2013, which is the chief reason for the bill’s existence in the first place.